Flawed Sonars Endanger Subs, Technician Says

June 13, 1989|By MIKE McGRAW The Hartford Courant

Sophisticated sonar systems that are towed behind submerged attack submarines are malfunctioning and sometimes must be jettisoned at sea to keep them from fouling submarine propellers, said a civilian technician who says the Navy fired him for blowing the whistle on the problem.

At stake could be the safety of U.S. sailors and loss of classified sonar equipment worth millions of dollars, according to documents and officials familiar with the case.

The technician, Joseph C. Richards, 42, and others say the electronic devices, known as towed array sonar systems, could be valuable to the Soviet Union if they could be retrieved.

Richards, a highly rated electronics technician, said that because he pushed the issue too hard with his bosses and colleagues, he was fired last year from his job at the Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding office in Groton, Conn., which oversees construction of nuclear submarines at the Electric Boat shipyard.

Richards, who has a secret security classification, said his investigation found that construction mistakes at Electric Boat, a division of General Dynamics Corp., are responsible for the problem. But he said his colleagues refused to support him, even after he got Electric Boat to agree to pay for the repairs.

The Navy denies Richards' allegations and says he was fired for disobeying orders.

One civilian sonar expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "It is common knowledge in the Navy that these EB boats have the (sonar system) problem."

In addition, many of the technical suggestions Richards made concerning the sonar system were used later by the Navy, said Don Mazeau, an aide to Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn., who met with Richards and Navy officials on the matter last year.

"I don't recall how many times they said they had to cut the sonar systems at sea, but it would be fair to say that, as a result of the meeting, the Navy acknowledged that there was merit to what Richards was saying," Mazeau said.

Electric Boat officials decline to comment on the matter, saying they do not discuss issues involving capabilities of submarines they build and that the matter is really a dispute between Richards and the Navy.

The electronic equipment in question is encased in a tubular canvas-like covering and towed on a cable some distance behind submerged submarines. Some boats carry two towed array systems, and Richards said he knows of problems with both on at least one submarine.

Towing the system behind and below the sub eliminates the noise from the boat and other sources that could interfere with the array's ability to detect nearby submarines and surface ships.